


Brave New World

by ximeria



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Introspection, M/M, Sentinel Thursday Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-01-22
Updated: 2005-01-22
Packaged: 2017-10-28 20:00:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/311641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ximeria/pseuds/ximeria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Twilight musings on Jim's behalf</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brave New World

**Author's Note:**

> Done for Sentinel Thursday's challenge #74 "New"

Jim turned his head in the dark and looked at the clock on the bedside table. 0302AM the red numbers told him, and still sleep eluded him. Not that he was feeling sleepy, just nicely relaxed.

Maybe he had trouble falling asleep because he was not used to sharing his bed with anyone. The heat of another body, the weight against his side, the slide of skin and hair against his own sensitive skin... Jim knew perfectly well that he could just dial his sense of touch down, but where would the fun be in that?

Jim ran his fingers lightly over the wild mop of hair spilling over his chest. No. No dialing down his sense of touch, nor his sense of smell. None of the scents were exactly new to him, just... more intense, closer... And touch? The parts he used to touch were still there... There was simply more now and... less barriers.

It was odd to hear the heartbeat so close, to hear it mingle with the sound of his own clockwork doing its duty. Not quite in sync with each other, but nearly. One like an echo of the other -- that alone should probably be enough to lull him to sleep.

Yet... he was strangely reluctant to let sleep claim him, no matter how much of a bitch the morning would be.

Sight was new -- yet not. He had seen some of it before, glimpses caught here and there, though Jim was the only one who had an exhibitionistic streak, running around the loft in only a towel. That did not mean he had not looked when the opportunity occasionally presented itself. Covertly. Not like now. Now he was allowed, encouraged even.

Jim smiled at the night sky outside the window. He was allowed alright and he loved every damned moment of it. He turned his eyes back to his companion and the darkness was no match for sentinel sight. Even now he could see the various nuances of the curly hair. He looked and smiled. He could spend hours just watching, just following the gentle movement of the body whenever it shifted in sleep. Every inhaled breath of air, every exhaled...

Licking his lips, Jim's smile widened. Taste was new. Taste was exactly what had always been missing between them. Even now, hours after... well, hours after he had last run his tongue over salt-sweat skin, hours after he had devoured the warm mouth... he could still taste it.

Jim closed his eyes and concentrated on the myriads of tastes. There was a hint of sugar from their dessert, a small trace of coffee as well. Then there was the taste that he figured was simply uniquely Blair. Maybe every person tasted slightly different?

Not that he was about to go out and test that and it would be one experiment he figured his Guide would object to.

Jim grinned into the dark. Oh yeah, Blair would definitely object to that.

Himself. Jim felt the faint stirrings in his body as he caught the lingering taste. Jim drew a deep breath, letting scent mingle with the rest of his senses, giving him the input he wanted.

"Damn it Jim, will you go to sleep?" The question was muttered against his chest and the hot breath ghosting over his skin made Jim shiver.

"Am I disturbing your sleep?" Jim asked guiltily. He had just stolen a little time out of eternity to enjoy his companion, but he knew it was not smart to keep Blair awake all night. His guide was grumpy enough in the mornings as it were.

Blair grumbled and wriggled to get closer to Jim. Not that Jim minded, on the contrary.

"I can hear the wheels turning and turning, they gotta be rusty, man," Blair yawned and finally turned bleary eyes to Jim. "They're sure making a lot of noise -- So what huge, life-altering thoughts are keeping you up?" Blair's voice was light but it did not fool Jim.

"All this," Jim admitted, meaning the two of them, in bed together. He could practically hear Blair swallowing hard and his heartbeat speeding up a little. A small whiff of fear tainted the familiar Blair-scent.

Jim sighed. "I'm not having regrets, you know," he told Blair, tightening his fingers in the soft hair and slipping a hand down around Blair's shoulder. "I was just pondering the newness of this."

Blair's scent seemed to move toward normal and the thu-thud of his heart likewise.

"I know that you're not exactly fond of change," Blair began, finally relaxing a little, arms tightening around Jim's waist.

Jim frowned. Blair was right, new things meant changes but this felt so beyond natural that Jim had not even given it a second thought earlier in the evening. Not once their touches turned from friendly into something more. On the couch. What a damned cliché.

"I know I'm an old stiff to live with," Jim admitted. "But I think we've been moving toward this for a long time..."

Blair's sigh held more than a little relief.

"Speaking of stiff..." Blair grinned, his warm breath brushing against Jim's neck. "How the hell can you be up for more already?"

Jim grinned. Trust Blair to keep things light when they could just as easily have been plummeting into angst and doubt. Maybe this really was the only thing they could have done.

Status quo was boring anyway.

Maybe Blair had rubbed off on him? By now he was actually craving a little adventure. Especially of the bedroom kind. Speaking of rubbing... Jim ran his hand down Blair's back, feeling him arch into the touch.

"I've been saving it all up for you," Jim crooned as he quickly flipped his bed partner over onto his back. Jim smiled down at the decadent sight on his bed. Their bed. Definitely *their* bed.

"So, new isn't bad, is it?" Blair mumbled as he pulled Jim down on top of him. "New isn't scary and unwanted, is it?"

Jim did not answer, but bit lightly into the sleep-warm skin of Blair's exposed neck, humming contentedly as Blair writhed against him.

No, new was most definitely not unwanted anymore. If new meant Blair Sandburg in his bed, new was craved, needed... demanded, preferably for the rest of his life.

The End


End file.
